Comic shop orders for comic books and graphic novels in North America reportedly increased by 9.04% over 2012. It's a smaller increase than last year's 14.72% boost. It would bring the year in at more than $518 million — in line with previous estimates here at Comichron — and an increase of around $43 million for the year. Note that this figure does not include comics and graphic novels sold through bookstore and newsstand channels, which adds another $200 million or so — nor does it include digital sales, which was reported to be in excess of $75 million in 2012 and would likely have been more in 2013.

Orders for comic books were up by 10.22% in dollars, while graphic novel orders were up by 6.5%. October's The Walking Dead #115 was the best-selling comic book of the year, with sales in excess of 300,000 copies — and, perhaps not coincidentally, it cost at least a dollar less than anything else on the top-ten list.

TOP 10 COMIC BOOKS

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

VENDOR

1

THE WALKING DEAD #115 (MR)

$2.99

IMA

2

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1

$3.99

DC

3

SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #1

$4.99

DC

4

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #1

$3.99

MAR

5

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #1

$3.99

MAR

6

INFINITY #1

$4.99

MAR

7

X-MEN #1

$3.99

MAR

8

AGE OF ULTRON #1

$3.99

MAR

9

UNCANNY X-MEN #1

$3.99

MAR

10

SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #2

$3.99

DC

Image also had the top-selling graphic novel in Saga Vol. 1— again, priced quite a bit less than anything else in the Top 10. It unseated Walking Dead Vol. 1, which had led the list for three years running; that book still placed second. Image had seven out of ten entries on the list.

TOP 10 GRAPHIC NOVELS AND TRADE PAPERBACKS

RANK

DESCRIPTION

PRICE

VENDOR

1

SAGA VOLUME 1 TP (MR)

$9.99

IMA

2

THE WALKING DEAD VOLUME 1: DAYS GONE BYE TP

$14.99

IMA

3

SAGA VOLUME 2 TP (MR)

$14.99

IMA

4

THE WALKING DEAD VOLUME 18: WHAT COMES AFTER TP

$14.99

IMA

5

THE WALKING DEAD VOLUME 2: MILES BEHIND US TP

$14.99

IMA

6

THE WALKING DEAD VOLUME 19: MARCH TO WAR TP

$14.99

IMA

7

HAWKEYE VOLUME 1: MY LIFE AS WEAPON TP

$16.99

MAR

8

BATMAN VOLUME 1: THE COURT OF OWLS TP

$16.99

DC

9

BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL EDITION HC

$17.99

DC

10

THE WALKING DEAD VOLUME 3: SAFETY BEHIND BARS TP

$14.99

IMA

Marvel led the publishers list in both dollar and market shares, and the dollar rankings were identical to 2012's list, with the exception of Valiant replacing Viz at ninth:

TOP COMIC BOOK PUBLISHERS

PUBLISHER

DOLLAR
SHARE

MARVEL COMICS

33.50%

DC COMICS

30.33%

IMAGE COMICS

8.00%

IDW PUBLISHING

6.47%

DARK HORSE COMICS

5.17%

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

2.72%

BOOM! STUDIOS

1.99%

EAGLEMOSS PUBLICATIONS

1.25%

VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT

0.98%

AVATAR PRESS

0.89%

OTHER NON-TOP 10

8.70%

PUBLISHER

UNIT
SHARE

MARVEL COMICS

36.97%

DC COMICS

33.35%

IMAGE COMICS

8.49%

IDW PUBLISHING

5.10%

DARK HORSE COMICS

4.50%

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

2.59%

BOOM! STUDIOS

1.92%

VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT

1.06%

ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT INC

0.76%

AVATAR PRESS

0.74%

OTHER NON-TOP 10

4.52%

The monthly reports for 2013 can be found here, and previous years for comparison can be found here.